Welcome to Back Pages, the space where I share the notes from home games that I scribble in the back of the notebook rather than the primary game notes pages. These are the observations that are important enough to take note of, but not necessarily relevant to the result of the game being played. In short: this is the juicy stuff.

No pre-gaming today, as I was celebrating some friends out in the fine Oregon country. I can’t wait to see the weekday vibes of whatever place I try tomorrow evening. Send recommendations if you have them!

Previous reviews:

I hope to try a new place as frequently as I can, and will continue to make recommendations. Let me know if you’d like to meet up before any of the home games!

I missed the National Anthem performance because I was getting a beer 😭. Luckily, the Fire posted it on Youtube.

I was tipped off that the introduction to the game would be something special, and damn was that true. The Fire spared no expense filling the place with cinematic smoke from all the fires they were blazing, and the punchy, bright screens of the video boards the players traversed through glowed brightly. It was a heavy moment, and a beautiful one, and I doubt I’ll ever forget it.

Coach Sylvia Fowles caught my attention early in the game when several Fire players were getting visibly irked by the referees and some blown defensive actions. As they came to the bench, on the verge of ranting and raving, they were met by the same response: Coach Fowles. As players took their seats, Fowles would go with them, and she would simply give them her full attention. No pep talks, no curbing their behavior, just active listening. She would eventually give some responses, but they were brief, and seemingly pushed the conversation forward, and then, pretty quickly, the situation was resolved. Fowles is a two-time WNBA champion, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, and was the MVP in 2017. She’s already in the Hall of Fame. And on this team of newcomers and first-timers and people getting their biggest role and career opportunities, she’s guiding them through the obstacles. On a team built for doing things a new way, and having to learn a lot to get there, I’m thankful she’s on the team. I’m sure the players are, too.

I had two different people tell me how they loved the look of awe and wonder on fan’s faces. They clearly were watching women’s professional basketball for the first time, and clearly in a sports stadium like the Moda Center for the first time. It was somewhat funny to see, as seasoned sports viewers, but it was moving and beautiful more than anything else. So many new fans to this great sport!

The halftime show was great. Ashanti, whose music career started over 20 years ago, just strutted onto the floor with some dancers and slayed a melody of her bangers. She actually sang the songs, sounded great doing it, and all the 40-something’s in the crowd sang along.

A feature I should start including is the Fire Pit Playlist of songs that DJ Zyah Belle plays in the stadium. The arena was absolutely rocking out to a couple of songs coming out of breaks, and it was honestly the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard during actual gameplay. THAT"‘S a home-court advantage.

This is the first time I got to sit in my season-ticket seats with all the other season-ticket holders around me. Luckily, I know a bunch of them, since we managed to sign-up for them together, but even meeting the people I didn’t know who would be sitting next to me all summer was a real thrill. My friend A had to apologize to the people behind us for the upcoming 21 games of having to listen to her yell really loudly (yelling positive, affirming things to players). I’m sure our neighbors will learn to love it like I have.

There was a long period during a coach’s challenge that the crowd organically started doing the wave. It was a magical moment, and I even spotted a friend of mine in a different section who was visibly moved, potentially crying, over how special of an occasion it all was.

I didn’t spend time in a different seat next to the away team bench, like I did in the pre-season, so I was unprepared to look for fun and interesting things from opposing stars. I’ll keep my eyes better peeled in the future. Until then, enjoy this Click Clack clip (and follow them on Instagram!):

This blog is based on optimism and good faith, but you simply must give yourself moments to vent. I’ll be doing that here, when I really need to let people know about something that could definitely be improved at gameday.

This was a great experience, and I don’t have much to complain about here. The operations all felt on-point to me, which I was admittedly worried about during the pre-season. That said, here’s a minor complaint:

Getting into the Moda Center took quite a while. The ticket scanning machines are outside of the stadium, which pushed entry lines farther out into the public complex, and really mucked things up in a space that should, yes, be filled with people, but should have room to move and breathe and run around while waiting for the season to begin. Maybe this is another Moda staff early-season thing, and I didn’t go to a Blazers game this season for anything to compare it to, but I hope this gets improved. Although the W runs in the summer, so waiting outside has its upsides.

This will be an ongoing season where I hopefully try most, if not all, of the concession booths at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Fire, to let you know where you should be spending your half-times.

New/first contestant: BAES Fried Chicken (A-)

Fried Chicken Sandwich with seasoned waffle fries

A simple fried chicken sandwich with pickles and ideally seasoned fries with fry sauce. I don’t know what else to say other than this is exactly the kind of thing I would be glad to eat at basically every home game. It was under $20, and it was a good amount of food to share with my partner.

Rankings:

See y’all at the Moda Center tomorrow.